14 May 2021 - - US-based biotechnology company Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: RIGL) has appointed Alison L. Hannah, M.D. to its board of directors, the company said.

Rigel said that Hannah brings over three decades of pharmaceutical industry experience to Rigel, including a deep knowledge of clinical development strategy in hematology and oncology with a focus on molecularly targeted therapies.

Alison L. Hannah, M.D. currently serves as chief medical officer for CytomX Therapeutics (OTC: CTMX), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing conditionally activated therapies to treat cancer.

Prior to joining CytomX, Dr. Hannah served as a consultant to nearly 30 pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies directing the development of investigational cancer therapies.

In this capacity, Dr. Hannah has successfully filed over 40 regulatory applications for First-in-Human clinical testing and has played significant roles in the broad marketing approval of multiple anticancer therapeutics (including talazoparib, enzalutamide, defibrotide, carfilzomib, as well as tyrosine kinase inhibitors sunitinib and toceranib), including extensive experience interacting with global health and regulatory authorities.

Earlier in her career, Dr. Hannah held the role of Senior Medical director at Sugen, Inc. (acquired by Pharmacia and Upjohn, now Pfizer (NYSE: PFE)) where she had oversight of clinical development, clinical operations, and pharmacovigilance, specializing in the development of tyrosine kinase inhibitors, including sunitinib (SUTENT) approved for the treatment of kidney cancer and imatinib-refractory gastrointestinal stromal tumors.

Dr. Hannah began her career at Quintiles, a global contract research organization, where she specialized in overseeing early to registrational-stage oncology clinical trials. Dr. Hannah currently serves on the board of NeoGenomics, a publicly traded cancer diagnostic company.

Dr. Hannah received her B.A. in biochemistry and immunology from Harvard University and her M.D. from the University of Saint Andrews.

Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc., is a biotechnology company dedicated to discovering, developing and providing novel small molecule drugs that significantly improve the lives of patients with hematologic disorders, cancer and rare immune diseases.

Rigel's pioneering research focuses on signaling pathways that are critical to disease mechanisms.

The company's first FDA approved product is Tavalisse (fostamatinib disodium hexahydrate) tablets, the only oral spleen tyrosine kinase inhibitor for the treatment of adult patients with chronic immune thrombocytopenia who have had an insufficient response to a previous treatment.

This product is also commercially available in Europe (Tavalisse) and Canada (Tavalisse) for the treatment of chronic immune thrombocytopenia in adult patients.

Fostamatinib is currently being studied in a Phase 3 clinical trial for the treatment of warm autoimmune hemolytic anemia (wAIHA)1; a Phase 3 clinical trial for the treatment of hospitalized patients with COVID-191; an NIH/NHLBI-sponsored Phase 2 clinical trial for the treatment of hospitalized patients with COVID-19, in collaboration with Inova Health System; and a Phase 2 clinical trial for the treatment of COVID-19 being conducted by Imperial College London.

Rigel's other clinical programs include its interleukin receptor-associated kinase inhibitor program, and a receptor-interacting serine/threonine-protein kinase inhibitor program in clinical development with partner Eli Lilly and company.

In addition, Rigel has product candidates in development with partners AstraZeneca, BerGenBio ASA, and Daiichi Sankyo (OTC: DSKYF).